Ready or not — here it comes! The holiday season is just around the corner and for most businesses it's time to
plan their marketing strategy for the most active shopping period of the year.

Millions of online shoppers start their holiday shopping rush, and sellers of all kinds are
here to struggle for
their attention. Standing out from the crowd and reaching out to your potential clients through this holiday
frenzy might be a challenge for you. So, finished with our own holiday planning, we wanted to share with you
these marketing tips and ideas for crafting your effective strategy for the coming holiday season.

This is the first part of the holiday marketing guide (more coming in a few weeks), helping you
get the most of
your Halloween marketing.

And it is not "just another guide" you've read a million times. We won't talk
here about decorating your site
with pumpkins and looking spooky, we'll talk about ENGAGEMENT and VIRAL things that will bring you traffic which
would otherwise go to your competitors.

Ultimate guide to Halloween Marketing

Quick and easy Halloween ideas for your biz

Tips for effective Halloween marketing planning

Excellent examples of successful Halloween marketing campaigns

Best Halloween marketing ideas for your biz!

Halloween is the official kick-off of to the holiday season and this year nearly 158 million people will
participate in Halloween activities in the U.S. alone. That means there's a huge opportunity for your business
to join the celebration with some clever Halloween marketing.

Need some inspiration?

Here are the quick and easy Halloween marketing ideas to reach out to your customers and prospects and capture
their attention this Halloween.

1. Hold a contest that really helps your biz

Holding a contest is one of the greatest ways to engage with your audience, attract extra traffic to your
website,
and grow the fan base on social media. And though it's an old-known truth, a rare contest out there is held in a
way
that really brings in some marketing value.

So, as the very nature of the holiday (fun, excitement, spoof and mystery) makes Halloween a perfect occasions
to entertain your clients with a contest, here're some tips for you to do that right.

IDEA: A photo contest - "Best Halloween costume"

Dressing up for Halloween is a powerful tradition making lots of people plan and create their Halloween costumes
(as well as dress up their children and pets) long before the event. To engage with this audience — host a
Halloween costume photo contest.

Get even more exposure for your brand — ask the contestants to feature your logo on the photos they submit or
make the photo contest relevant to your business.

Tip 3: "Entry with the most likes wins"

Consider picking the contest winner by a voting on social networks. This is a great way to go viral, as it
encourages the participants to go to their friends for votes and likes, thus spreading the word about your
brand.

Tip 4: Use hashtags for better exposure

Consider using hashtags in your contest — so that the participants submit their entries not to your specific
page, but to their own social accounts. This can help your contest reach out to a wide audience.

2. Launch a game that turns the main Halloween event on the Web!

Another great idea matching the Halloween mood is engaging your customers into a funny and spooky Halloween
game. Offering some kind of prizes guarantees you'll attract even more participants.

IDEA: A "pumpkin hunt" quest

Pumpkin hunt is a fun Halloween take-off of the Easter egg hunt. Hide Halloween pumpkins all over your website
and ask your visitors to find them.

The "pumpkin hunt" idea can be easy transformed into saving your website from monstrous invasion, gathering
candies, catching the flying bats or anything else that matches the Halloween theme — it's up to you and your
fantasy.

Tip 1: Let participants better learn your website or your product

Make sure to hide the pumpkins on "strategic" pages of your site — those you'd like your visitors to see and
read through.
Also, if you are offering some kind of a software app — let your users learn more about its great features by
hiding the pumpkins inside your software.

Tip 2: Make participants come back to your site and stay there as long as possible

Try inventing the game idea that makes participants go back to your site over and over again and stay there as
long as possible - this way you're getting more chances they'll read and learn about you.

Tip 3: Offer tips for the quest on your social accounts

This way you're likely to encourage more people to follow your social media accounts and grow your social media
fanbase.

Simply Mac — "The only way you'll know when the pumpkins are going up is if you become a fan on Facebook or
follow us on Twitter. We'll be telling you there when a pumpkin is on the loose, so get following!"

If you're not planning a large-scale event this Halloween, don't miss a chance to talk to your audience. Ask
questions and opinions to make your customers feel valued.

IDEA: A funny Halloween voting

For Halloween, you could have followers vote on the costume contest you held in your office, which has the added
bonus of humanizing your brand.

Or you could let fans vote for the new feature to add to your product, for the events to launch on Christmas and
New Year or anything else you'd like.

IDEA: Ask about Halloween plans

Another way to engage your audience into discussion is by simply asking about their plans for the coming
Halloween, their attitude to the holiday or the funny occasions that have happened to them on Halloween.

- What will you be doing for Halloween this year?
- Favorite Halloween Film?
- How do you celebrate Halloween?

Tip: Pick the right timing

Consider running your Halloween activities not necessarily on Halloween day itself, but on the Saturday before
Halloween — that is the time when people are already thinking about Halloween (according
to
Google trends) but
aren't yet bombarded with lots of Halloween events and offers.

4. Create funny/useful content to go viral

Another great way to attract extra traffic over Halloween is to create some useful or simply funny Halloween
content that people are likely to share with their friends.

This can be a funny Halloween video, photos of your team's Halloween preparations, interesting Halloween
infographics and what not.

IDEA: Funny or "interesting-facts" infographics

Infographic is an easy-to-digest and attention-grabbing content people are very likely to share. This means
creating a nice Halloween infographic is your perfect chance to go viral.

And as Halloween gives you lots of themes for a funny or informative infographics (from interesting stats on
Halloween celebration to some funny “fight a monstrous attack” tips), just pick the theme and go on!

Tip 1: Focus on branding

Don't forget you're creating your infographic to make it go viral and spread the word about your brand, so make
sure your branding (or even a certain call to action) is included as part of the graphics.

To create a really nice-looking infographic, you even don't need a professional designer. Lots of tools (like
Piktochart, Infogr.am and others) help you do the job quickly and easily.

IDEA: Funny or scary Halloween video

Creating a video might be costly or time-consuming, but Halloween marketing could be your best chance to see a
serious ROI. Upload Halloween-related video to your website or YouTube channel to make people talk about you,
your business and the products or services you offer.

Tip: Don't be afraid to be funny or silly

Halloween is one of the few times each year when nearly any brand can be as silly, scary, or strange as they
like — make sure you create a funny and unexpected video to stand out from all other Halloween content.

Westlake Ace Hardware — "We are the first shop awarded the first Zombie Acceptance Certification as the best
place for zombies to shop!"

IDEA: Simply a Halloween-related blog post

The "lazy-man" option for creating viral content is a blog post. Even though it's not that likely to spread over
all the Web, the original, funny and interesting content can bring you extra traffic.

- Share your funny Halloween costume ideas - even special Halloween costumes related to your business niche
(ex. Top 8 SEO/Social Media Halloween Costumes) or show how the stuff you sell can be used for
Halloween costumes

Bundling products together is a great way to sell more over Halloween and attract curious site visitors. The
goal here is to put together a themed bundle that can be promoted on social media, via email, and as part of a
press release.

Tip: Consider bundling different products based around a particular theme

For example, if you're a grocery store, you can give away vampire-themed bundle: a gift basket filled with
different types of garlic foods, wooden utensils, red wines, etc. Bundles will attract attention, get shared
more, and can help bring in more sales during Halloween.

IDEA: Discount coupons for social media fans

Special offers are one of the most popular reasons for people to follow a brand on Facebook, so why not give
your followers a little seasonal reward for their loyalty.

IDEA: Give all customers a Halloween gift with their holiday purchases

Try to find a reasonably priced Halloween-themed item that's easy to ship with a customer's order. This will
help new
customers make their first purchase, and returning customers feel like they're getting a great deal. Your
freebies will also give you additional imagery for your Halloween creative needs!

IDEA: Offer a "scary" one day discount on your product

It's no doubt that a good discount offered in the subject line of your email is a guaranteed way to get high
open and click through rates along with a certain amount of purchases. The sense of one-day urgency and the
Halloween theme you stick to are likely to achieve even better results.

And finally... Do stick to the Halloween mood!

Ok, this final point is quite unlikely to bring in oodles of fresh traffic to your website, but they will
definitely
make your customers smile and feel some positive towards your brand.

IDEA: Put something spooky in your company's logo and website

Change the colors, put some Halloween creatures on your pages, carve your logo on a pumpkin or whatever you feel
like — the visitors will love the Holiday mood.

Don't forget to pay attention not only to your main website, but spice up your Facebook, Twitter or Google+
profile with Halloween graphics.

IDEA: Send a "Happy Halloween" email to your subscribers

Use the chance to contact your customers and send your greetings and best wishes. Just make your customers feel
you care about them!

IDEA: Put a Halloween theme on your non-Halloween products

Make your very ordinary products more attractive for Halloween shoppers by adding some Halloween design to their
packaging.

Hope these ideas helped you space up your Halloween marketing plans. Still the thing to remember is that you
don't have to engage into everything at once. The rule of the thumb for your Halloween promotion is:

Think small — then expand as needed.

Your holiday promo doesn't have to be a huge ordeal; think of something lightweight and engaging that you
can leverage across many different platforms quickly and easily.

Our focus will continue to be on the holidays this month, so be sure to check out your inbox for the next part
of our marketing guide!

Cheers,
Link-Assistant.Com Team

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Have your own great examples of successful Halloween marketing? Feel free to share them!